Just Do It!

Do you remember Shia LaBeouf? About two years ago one of his motivational videos went viral.

For those who don´t know it: LaBeouf stands in front of a greenscreen and aggressively yells at the viewer “JUST DO IT! Make your dreams come true! Stop giving up!” for several minutes. Just that.

For many this video was just a hoax. I vividly remember chuckling about how aggressive this man becomes over the course of a minute.

But LaBeouf is right. His video may be almost forgotten by now but the message is still present in my head.

Just do it.

We all are afraid of many things. Mostly of failure, being hurt or not being good enough. Those fears are holding us back from achieving what we want to achieve.

Our friends and family, our teachers and society as a whole tells us to not leave the path of a “normal life”. A life that is not controlled by ourselves but other people´s expectations.

When I was 13 years old I was told by an adult man that I could never be a writer. His advice was to go to university, study chemistry and get a good job at some pharmaceutical company. Imagine 13 year old me almost crying on the school´s toilets because my dreams were shattered into pieces.

But I got comfortable with the thought of never writing for a living. That´s part of growing up, right? Giving up your dreams. Becoming a sheep that doesn´t think for itself. Being a civilian instead of a superhero who chooses his own path.

It took me years to unlearn and develop the mindset of a modern superhero. A superhero can achieve anything they put their mind on and I wanted to make a living by writing texts that were read by a lot of people.

Overcoming your own fears and society´s expectations for you is a big step. Before you take it it seems almost impossible. It´s scary. You will overthink and you will become paralyzed by fear.

If you find yourself at this point in your life listen to Shia LaBeouf´s words of wisdom:

Just. Do. It!

There will be good times and there will be bad times. Unless you give up and quit you can not fail. Just get up to your feet and try again. Try again until your dreams aren´t dreams anymore.

You can be afraid but you can not let fear or anyone else but you control your life. Your life is controlled by your decisions.

If you make the decision to follow the path society expects you to walk that´s your decision. You can´t blame anyone else for your misery.

If you make the decision to become a superhero and you fail you can still make the decision to try again. Giving up is your decision. Trying is your decision.

Captain America tried to enlist in the military again and again after being rejected. He never quit and finally he was successful. But if he didn´t try this last time he never would have become Captain America.